Interesting - Imported rice with high lead levels

monicalosesweight
monicalosesweight Posts: 1,173 Member
in Food and Nutrition
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22099990

I'm gluten free because of an allergy. I now have been buying my rice for several months from Lundberg which is a California company. This article totally surprised me. They did a study and discovered really high levels of lead in most imported rice and particularly pointed out rice coming from China and India. Apparently, it has something to do with how they get rid of technological waste and the sewage used to grow the rice....at least that's my understanding. Sigh. I may never eat imported rice ever again. I'm now getting paranoid about imported food. What are these people doing overseas? You'd think someone in these countries would think about this stuff.

Monica

Replies

  • Carnivor0us
    Carnivor0us Posts: 1,752 Member
    Dont buy food from countires with low export standards, then.
  • monicalosesweight
    monicalosesweight Posts: 1,173 Member
    I try to buy American whenever possible. I just was surprised by the lead issue. I hadn't realized things were that bad in some of these countries.
  • TheDevastator
    TheDevastator Posts: 1,626 Member
    Don't eat rice, problem solved. Amaranth, quinoa, and buckwheat are the best seeds for a gluten free diet.
  • brendaschmitt1
    brendaschmitt1 Posts: 218
    O wow that is scary. It is like you cant eat anything because it all has some kind of poison. That so horrible. Not to be religious or anything but doesn't it say something in the bible about food being poisoned. Idk that just popped in my head.
  • pickledginger
    pickledginger Posts: 172
    It is scary - and by buying produce and other products from big polluters, at prices similar to those we'd pay for the same items from other sources, we're effectively subsidizing the pollution.

    That's hard to do anything about on an individual level, because labelling here just isn't good enough. I'd really like to see fees for importers of such products. (Really, they ought to cost MORE than products sourced in a sustainable, non-polluting manner, because the producers are imposing environmental costs on all of us by their practices.) And we could use the money from the fees for programs to encourage environmental remediation and green growing and manufacturing practices in the originating nations.

    It's like the products from sweatshops or WalMart - so long as there is no monetary cost associated with worker maltreatment, it'll continue to be a win for the big corporations.
  • monicalosesweight
    monicalosesweight Posts: 1,173 Member
    I agree. That's why I've been looking for environmentally friendly companies producing products like rice in the USA. I didn't buy the rice from here because of this - I found this out AFTER I started buying the American rice. I had no idea about it.

    Monica

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